How can you reunite with your family after having been granted international protection?
You have the right to reunite with your close family members if you are granted international protection.
Definition of family
The definition of family is very limited according to the Family Reunification Directive and the Asylum and Refugees Act. As a beneficiary of international protection, your family members are considered to be:
- your spouse or your partner with whom you are in a proven long-lasting and stable relationship
- your unmarried minor child, including an adopted child
- an unmarried and minor child under the custody of you or your spouse/partner
- your or your spouse’s/partner’s unmarried adult child if the child is unable to cope independently due to their state of health or disability
- your parent or your spouse’s parent who are unable of self-care due to old age or severe disability and because of this live in one household with their children maintained by you or your spouse/partner.
As an unaccompanied minor beneficiary of international protection, your family members are considered to be:
- your parents
- your guardian if you are minor and unmarried.
important For family reunification, it is necessary for family ties to have existed in the country of origin. This means that if you want to reunite with your spouse, the marriage needs to have been contracted before entry into Bulgaria. If you cannot provide official documents proving your marital status or other type of family ties, they can be determined by a signed declaration or in other ways.
Process of family reunification
If you are granted with a refugee status, your family members arrived in Bulgaria with you, are also considered to be refugees if the family connection precedes your entry of the State.
If you are granted with a humanitarian status your family members also receive subsidiary protection if your connection precedes your entry in the State and if the status is compatible with their personal cases.
If your family is still in your country of origin, you may submit an application for family reunification with the State Agency for Refugees together with relevant evidence for family ties such as copies of identity documents and copies of birth or marriage certificates. If you want to reunite with your children who are above 18 years old or with your parents, you need to present evidence of the fact that these family members are dependent on you. Such evidence can be medical certificates or other relevant documentation. In case you cannot present documentation, you can sign a declaration, containing the names, dates of birth and locations of the adult members of your family you want to reunite with.
The State Agency for Refugees makes a decision on family reunification . After a positive decision on family reunification, the family member will be issued a visa from the respective consulate of Bulgaria. The State Agency for Refugees will provide assistance in issuing travel documents, visas and in the process of their entry in the State territory. After receiving the visa, the family member can travel to Bulgaria. If the family members do not possess valid passports to travel abroad this should be indicated as early as in the family reunification application. In such cases if the family reunification is approved, the members of the family will be issued by the respective Bulgarian consulate a substitute travel document (laissez-passer / passavan).
What human rights violation may there be?
If your application for family reunification is unjustifiably denied, it could violate your right to respect for family life. A decision of the State Agency for Refugees to deny family reunification may be appealed in the Administrative Court. Read about the appeal procedure.